Maura's dour review of CSS's Donkey inspired me to finally check out the album's first single, "Rat Is Dead," and - surprise! - I love it. The song simulates that early '90s DGC moment where femme-friendly, post-Pixies alt-rock got to be radio filler. And as it's more Silversun Pickups than DFA, I'm not shocked this could feed a backlash. It's tempting to agree the song pales to "Let's Make Love" or "Alala," but judging by how often I've played it over the last two days, it's affecting me in an equal if totally different way. Lovefoxxx's vocals are still giddy, but the "rock" production ironically makes "Rat Is Dead" less transgressive than their earlier singles, which pushed demented fun in your face. "Rat" would have sounded common fifteen years ago, but the warm drive of the riffs are as welcome and beautiful now as they were on Last Splash or Star or whatever your nineties nugget of choice is. Maybe it's nostalgia caused by the machismo of modern rock, but what A&R wanted from Sonic Youth in 1994 I'll be happy to take from CSS now.